CANONSBURG, Pa., Jan. 29, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Rice Energy Inc. (the "Company") today announced the completion of its initial public offering of 50,000,000 shares of its common stock at a price to the public of $21.00 per share, including 6,000,000 shares pursuant to the partial exercise by the underwriters of their option to purchase additional common stock from the selling stockholder named in the registration statement. The Company sold 30,000,000 shares of its common stock, and the selling stockholder sold 20,000,000 shares of the Company's common stock.

The net proceeds received by the Company from the sale of 30,000,000 shares of its common stock were approximately $594.5 million, after deducting underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by the Company. The Company intends to use the net proceeds to repay all outstanding borrowings under the revolving credit facility of its Marcellus joint venture, to make a $100.0 million payment in partial consideration of its Marcellus joint venture buy-in, to repay all outstanding borrowings under its revolving credit facility and to fund a portion of its capital expenditure plan. The Company will not receive any of the proceeds from the sale of shares of the Company's common stock by the selling stockholder.

A registration statement relating to these securities has been filed with, and declared effective by, the Securities and Exchange Commission. This offering will be made only by means of a written prospectus forming part of the effective registration statement. A copy of the prospectus meeting the requirements of Section 10 of the Securities Act of 1933 may be obtained, when available, from:

This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy, nor shall there be any sale of these securities in any state or jurisdiction in which such an offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such state or jurisdiction.

Rice Energy Inc. is an independent natural gas and oil company engaged in the acquisition, exploration and development of natural gas and oil properties in the Appalachian Basin.

This release includes "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of federal securities laws. Such forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond Rice Energy Inc.'s control. All statements, other than historical facts included in this release, are forward-looking statements. All forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this release. Although the Company believes that the plans, intentions and expectations reflected in or suggested by the forward-looking statements are reasonable, there is no assurance that these plans, intentions or expectations will be achieved. Therefore, actual outcomes and results could materially differ from what is expressed, implied or forecast in such statements.

We caution you that these forward-looking statements are subject to all of the risks and uncertainties, most of which are difficult to predict and many of which are beyond our control, incident to the exploration for and development, production, gathering and sale of natural gas and oil. These risks include, but are not limited to, commodity price volatility, inflation, lack of availability of drilling and production equipment and services, environmental risks, drilling and other operating risks, regulatory changes, the uncertainty inherent in estimating natural gas reserves and in projecting future rates of production, cash flow and access to capital, and the timing of development expenditures.